Taki the War Monk
| upkeep_cost = | req = | moves = | melee = | ranged = | defense = * | resist = | hits = | item_slot_1 = | item_slot_2 = | item_slot_3 = | abilities = Super Agility | random_abilities = 1 (Fighter) }} Taki the War Monk is one of the 35 Hero units featured in Master of Magic. Taki is a non-Champion Hero. He may randomly appear for hire if a wizard has at least , in which case his Hiring Cost is by default. Alternatively, Taki can be summoned using the Summon Hero spell (or through partial failure of the Summon Champion spell), and can occasionally be found as a Prisoner reward after a successful Encounter. Taki is a strong hero, who specializes in methods of self-defense. His score starts fairly average, but will rapidly increase as he gains Experience thanks to his innate Super Agility - making him extremely hardy against direct damage. If Taki's score can be raised respectively, he will eventually become extremely difficult to kill. This gives him more time to execute Melee Attacks and finish off his enemies. Furthermore, Taki always receives one additional Random Ability selected from the "Fighter" category. This may further boost his strength, or possibly turn him into a good support-hero. Taki may be equipped with the basic fare of Magical Items. He will not be able to cast spells, and thus can focus on gaining various bonuses to increase his attack strength, or to concentrate on becoming nigh-invulnerable through defensive bonuses. Taki's Upkeep Cost is per turn, unless he has randomly acquired the Noble trait. General Description Taki the War Monk is a man of religion and philosophy. Originating from far in the eastern lands, he has spent much of his life studying the secrets of an ancient religious order which emphasizes discipline over one's self as a means to achieve enlightenment. With lightning reflexes and superior self-control, Taki can anticipate his opponents' moves before they make them. When an enemy sword or arrow strikes, Taki is no longer there! Taki has a fierce and cunning appearance. He is very pale, and his head is almost entirely clean-shaven apart from a traditional pony-tail coming out the apex of the back of his head. His hair is dyed blue, giving him an even more outlandish appearance. Instead of a helmet, he wears an ornate set of colorful bands holding a single strip of metal to his forehead. Taki is dressed in partial plate, and goes into battle barefoot. he rides a bluish-grey horse. Initial Properties All data below assumes Taki is at his lowest Experience Level, and without any Magical Items or Random Abilities - After all, any Hero can become devastatingly powerful after gaining several levels and powerful items. Please refer to the tables and chapters below for more information. Attack Properties Taki the War Monk possesses only a Melee Attack. Its default strength is , which is respectable but not too impressive. With a default To Hit chance of , he can be expected to deliver about per attack. This is not bad for a low-level Hero, but means he will need to make many attacks to destroy any enemy unit - putting himself at risk in the process. Defensive Properties By default, Taki the War Monk has a Defense score of . Taki's innate Agility immediately raises this by to a total of - a respectable score. He can thus block about from any incoming attack. This makes Taki rather resilient against enemy low-tier units. As Taki gains Experience, his Super Agility will rapidly improve his Defense score, to the point where only the most powerful attackers can reliably get any damage past his armor! Taki possesses by default. This is a respectable amount for a low-level Hero, and should allow him to survive a few hits from low-tier Normal Units. He is not nearly healthy enough to take on any serious opposition though, and will thus usually end up relying on Defense to keep him alive, rather than health. As with most Heroes, Taki possesses a default Resistance score of . This makes him somewhat vulnerable to Curses and other combat maledictions. It will take at least before he can become immune to some of these effects, assuming no Magical Items or Random Abilities augment it. Other Properties Taki the War Monk has a basic Hero's Movement Allowance of . This is good for speeding up his movement on the overland map, through plain land tiles like Grassland and Deserts. During battle, Taki may need to use his speed to stay away from stronger enemies. Experience The following table illustrates how Taki's various skills and attributes increase as he gains Experience. His innate Super Agility bonuses are already taken into account in the values below. Attributes not appearing on this list do not improve with Experience. Also note that Taki's chosen Random Ability may also increase with Experience, and may adjust any of the attributes listed below! Average Damage Output The following table shows Taki's average output with each of his attacks, based on his current Experience Level. You can use the checkboxes to see the effect of some of the Random Abilities that Taki may occasionally possess. Note that this table completely ignores bonuses from Magical Items, if any. Improvement Overview As with any other Hero, Taki can eventually become very powerful as he gains Experience. Nonetheless, he is quite weak at the lower levels. Taki's property will soar with each additional level, thanks to the Super Agility he possesses by default. By ("Champion") he is already almost invulnerable to the attacks of any enemy Normal Units, and can engage low-tier Fantastic Units with little or no fear. By ("Demi-God") he may be able to block all damage from a high-tier Fantastic Unit or Hero! Note however that Taki's do not improve too quickly - unless he has selected Constitution as his Random Ability. This means that he will still need to be careful when attacking stronger opponents, or when fighting while injured. Ability Overview Super Agility * This Hero receives per every , including the first level. Fractions are rounded down after summing up the entire bonus. Random Abilities When a new game is started, the program randomly chooses 1 additional ability for Taki. This is called a Random Ability. The selection is done completely at random (while observing a limit on the strength of certain abilities) from the list below: Whichever Random Ability is picked, it is permanent. Taki will never re-randomize his abilities during the course of a single game. He may, however, pick a different ability in the next game. Note that Agility does not appear on the list above, since Taki already possesses the "Super" version of this ability, and it cannot be upgraded further. Nearly all abilities are useful for Taki, though he is probably best off with Might, Constitution or Blademaster. All three of these improve quickly with Experience, and will make Taki even more dangerous on the battlefield. Alternatively, Charmed may come in handy by ensuring that Taki is never affected by spells that bypass his formidable . The Lucky ability, on the other hand, can work together with Agility to make Taki truly impervious to damage. The Leadership ability is also useful, and encourages sending Taki out at the head of a large army. Since Taki is so hard to kill, he will continue bestowing bonuses on each friendly unit (including himself) for the duration of the battle. Equipment Taki the War Monk has the following item slots: This set-up contributes primarily to Melee combat. This is excellent for Taki, who is essentially a Melee-oriented unit. Recommended Items With Taki's rapidly-growing score, he is one of the few Heroes who can focus primarily on acquiring powerful attack bonuses. Do not neglect bonuses however, as enemies may try to bypass Taki's armor with insidious spells. Weapon :With little need for , there is no imperative for Taki to look for a Sword - he can choose any Melee weapon that has powerful bonuses on it. In fact, it's possible that the best weapon for Taki is an Axe - since Axes can go up to +6 Attack Strength! :You may safely ignore any weapon that gives extra ("Spell Skill"), as Taki may not utilize that bonus. Armor :Putting heavy armor on Taki is useful only early-on, before his Super Agility sends his score sky-high. Therefore, any armor will generally be great for this Hero, and especially armor that boosts his score. This will protect Taki from spells that bypass his high Defense score. :Note that Movement Allowance bonuses may be helpful, but not too necessary. Taki will rarely need to evade enemies or travel quickly. Extra speed will largely be used to get Taki quickly to the enemy, to start engaging them in battle. Jewelry :Any of the non-magic-related bonuses given by Jewelry are great for Taki. A good mix of Attack Strength, and/or bonuses is often best. If Taki is used as a Melee Attacker, he will likely deserve the best Jewelry item you can get. Acquisition Taki the War Monk can be acquired in one of four different methods: * By hiring him as he comes to visit your Fortress town, * By casting the Summon Hero or Summon Champion spells, * By rescuing him from an Encounter zone, * By Resurrecting him after he has been killed in battle. Hiring Taki Every once in a while, a Hero will arrive at your Fortress town to ask for employment. The frequency of this event depends on your current score, the number of Heroes already under your employ, and whether or not you have particular Retorts that affect this chance. In order for Taki to appear for hire in this way, you must meet several requirements: # You must have at least . # You must have sufficient in your treasury to hire Taki (more on this below). # Taki must not have already been killed in battle. Since the game randomly chooses which Hero appears during this event, there's no guarantee that Taki will ever appear. The chance, however, increases if the number of other valid Heroes dwindles (such as when most other Heroes have died in battle). The default Hiring Cost for Taki is . This is reduced to if your wizard has the Charismatic Retort. If you do not have this much at the start of a turn (after paying all Upkeep Costs), Taki will not appear for hire. In fact, if he is picked as the Hero who approaches you, and you lack the money to hire him, you are effectively forfeiting your chance to hire any Hero this turn. After agreeing to hire Taki (you can always refuse), you may give him any name you choose - he will be known as " the War Monk". His overland unit will appear at your Fortress town or, if that town's garrison is full, next to your Fortress town. Summoning Taki As a non-Champion hero, Taki the War Monk can be summoned using either the Summon Hero or Summon Champion spells. However, Summon Champion only has a chance to bring Taki to you if all Champions are unavailable at the time. Once the spell is completed, the game chooses a random Hero to bring to your Fortress from a list of all available and valid Heroes. Therefore, there is no guarantee that Taki will appear when these spells are cast, unless all other Heroes are unavailable. Again, you get a chance to agree or refuse to hire Taki. If you agree, he will appear in your Fortress town and/or next to it. If Taki is hired through the use of Summon Hero or Summon Champion, there is no need to pay any Hiring Cost. However, you may still need to pay an Upkeep Cost (see below). Rescuing Taki On defeating an Encounter of at least moderate difficulty, there is a small chance that your reward will include a Prisoner previously held captive in this Encounter zone. The game can randomly pick any non-Champion Hero to be rescued in this way - except Heroes that have already died while in your service. Your and are disregarded, and there is no need to pay any Hiring Costs. Note that if the army that beats that particular Encounter already contains 9 units, you will never be rewarded with a Prisoner. Resurrecting Taki For most wizards, losing Taki in battle removes him from the game permanently. He will never appear again. For -wielding wizards, however, who have access to the Resurrection spell, it is possible to bring Taki back to life after he has died. In this case, Taki returns to your Fortress town, with no Magical Items, but keeping all Experience he had prior to his death. You may repeatedly resurrect Taki each time he dies. Upkeep Costs Once Taki is in your employ, you must pay him an Upkeep Cost of at the start of each and every turn. Failure to pay this price due to lack of results in Taki leaving your employ. This is not permanent however: Taki may still be acquired in any of the above methods with no penalty. Note that if Taki picks the Noble Random Ability, he will demand no Upkeep Costs - and instead contribute to your treasury every turn! Alternate Names Other wizards can also have a War Monk, but they are different characters (what happens to one has no effect on the others), and go by different names, as follows: Category:Units Category:Heroes Category:Non-Champions